 Excellent style musically and visually
 Large levels
 Lots to do after initial completion of levels

The Bad

 Slight Camera issues
 Repetitive Sound Effects
 Limited tricks

Grade

A-

Jet Set Radio Future is all about hip futuristic culture
and style. You get to play as one of the GG gang, a group
of hip rollerbladers that uses graffiti as a means to an end,
either to mark new territory, cover up opposing gang's graffiti,
or as a weapon against the Rokkaku police. All along the way,
you have to perform certain tricks or duties to impress other
rollerbladers into joining your group or just to move onto
the next area.

Graphically, this game looks great. The design and layout
are well conceived and pulled off convincingly with the highly
stylized cel-shaded world. The levels are large, well-populated
and fully active. There are excessive amounts of detail and
lots of things going on at one time. It's impressive to move
about in such a large area, with only the occasional stutter
when a new section of the area loads. The further along in
the game, the larger and more impressive the levels get. In
fact, by the time you unlock later levels, you'll realize
how limited earlier portions of the game were. This expansion
is partially due to a growing learning curve that's given
to the player over the length of the game. Early on, places
to find Graffiti Souls and "tags" are easy to get to, but
by the time you reach 99th street, you'll be needing to grind
up wires and timing out your tags as you slide from rooftop
to rooftop.

The gameplay is a nice blend of skating action seasoned with
finding the hidden Graffiti Souls in each level. At the start
of every level, you will have to "tag" or mark areas with
graffiti to unlock certain events, like a race or a game of
follow-the-leader with opposing gang members. On occasion,
you'll have to fight it out with the police. Once you've completed
the initial priorities of an area, you can either move on
or come back and try to beat the trick requirements for the
level. Or you can just skate around and see what kind of trouble
you can get into. Along with the main game is a handful of
multiplayer games, which are good fun when you have friends
over.

Audio-wise, the game is well realized. The music is fun,
energetic and varied enough to keep from getting stale. When
playing this game, you must realize that the soundtrack is
solely a mixture of rap, techno, drum and bass, and dance.
If you're not at least tolerant of those genres, you'll grow
tired of the soundtrack quickly. The sound effects are well
done, but don't be surprised if they manage to get a little
old after a while. Every time you jump or run through a crowd
of people, you'll get the same sound effect. It's easy to
ignore, but may get old for some gamers.

Jet Set Radio Future is only held back by minor flaws.
The in game camera can, on occasion, move so that it's hard
to see where you want to go and in tight areas can move behind
a wall, thereby leaving you to your own devices until you
can move to a better vantage point. Also, the trick system
is fairly limited, but considering the style of gameplay,
they work just fine. If you're expecting Tony
Hawk Pro Skater 3, you'll be disappointed.

Smilebit has managed to put together a nice package here,
only stumbling with a few minor flaws that can be overlooked.
If you aren't big on the futuristic hip-culture that Jet Set
Radio Future brings along, you might want to pass, but for
everyone, check this one out.

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